Present Internet of Things (IoT) concepts cannot solve the critical problem of perpetually providing electrical power to sensors deployed in harsh conditions or in remote places. Particularly in the Oil & Gas industry, safety sensors are becoming extremely necessary to monitor well integrity and oil parameters during extraction. However, the inaccessibility to electrical power has become the main obstacle preventing the widespread dissemination of Industry 4.0 in the Oil & Gas industry. This project aims to deliver a low-cost hybrid nanogenerator able to operate in harsh conditions (pressure up to 12000 psi and working temperatures up to 120ºC) for the Oil & Gas industry. This new disruptive market solution, based on nanotechnology and on the most recent developments in the field of energy harvesting, will increase the resilience of Oil & Gas installations to critical failure, leading to large safety, ecological and economic gains in the sector.
The generator can locally provide energy even in remote places such as a wellbore with high temperatures and high pressures.
The nanomaterials used to build the generator allow the generation of energy without any significant flow obstruction.
Unlike conventional lithium batteries used to support IoT applications, the materials used to build the generator are also non-flammable.
In fact, this technology being developed by inanoEnergy takes advantage of any liquid flow movement to generate electricity to power small electronic devices, providing full autonomy in the monitoring process of oil and gas applications.